Lacedaemonians
1:
LACEDAEMONIANS. The Lacedaemonians were inhabitants of the Greek Pelopponese. Lacedaemonia, later called Sparta, was originally the name of a city-state settled during the Dorian invasion (ca. 1000 b.c.e.). Sparta supplanted Lacedaemonia as the capital of the SE Pelopponese and the region was then known as Laconia. After the Spartans conquered the Messenians to their west in the 7th century, the combined territory was subsequently known as Lacedaemonia. The name “Lacedaemonians” is found only once in the LXX (2 Macc 5:9), and the name “Sparta” is likewise referred to once (1 Macc 14:16); however, “Spartans” occurs nine times in 1 Maccabees 12–15.
There are several factors that seem to indicate that the Jews of Jerusalem cultivated political contacts with the Lacedaemonians. Friendly relations between Jerusalem and Sparta existed from the time of the high priesthood of Onias I (320–290 b.c.e.). Surprisingly, the Jews claimed that the Lacedaemonians were common descendants from Abraham (1 Macc 12:21). Jason, the high priest, sought refuge among the Jews of Sparta after his failure to occupy Jerusalem (2 Macc 5:9; and Jos. Ant 12. 5.1.238; and 15.3.1.). A letter from Jonathan to the Spartans and their reply in 146 b.c.e. may suggest that the Maccabeans sought to reestablish relations with the Lacedaemonians (1 Macc 12:6–18; and Jos. Ant 13:5.8; and 12.4.10). A brief letter from the Spartan authorities to Simon, the high priest and Jonathon’s successor, appears in 1 Macc 14:20–22. Finally, the letter sent to the nations requesting the recipients to abstain from further hostilities against the Jews specifically names Sparta (1 Macc 15:23; and Jos. Ant 14.8.5). The Maccabean Jewish political agenda was motivated in part by the fact that Jewish settlements existed in the Pelopponese from the 2d century b.c.e. and partially because of the positive political and philosophical benefits of having contacts with mainland Greek culture as opposed to Syrian Hellenism.
Scott T. Carroll
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (4:114). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Lacedaemonians (Gk. Lakedaimonioi)
Inhabitants of Lacedaemon (later called Sparta), the capital of Laconia, among whom the high priest Jason sought refuge (2 Macc. 5:9).
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (781). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
